Welcome Back
by The Readers Muse
Summary: She forgave him without words, just holding him close in what was in all likelihood the first gentle, loving embrace he had felt since he had been turned. Giving him the most important and essential part of humanity back in one simple embrace. Love."


_**Disclaimer: I don't own Blade Trinity or any of its characters. Wishful thinking aside. **_

**Warnings:** Honestly nothing at all major. Violence, swearing, unrepentant fluffyness. Pretty much cautionary stuff that exists along the same level as the movie dealt out. Also, a bit of Abby/King shippage if you squint.

**Authors Note #1:** I have wanted to write a story like this for some time. I have read a number of very good 'Abby saves King' stories in the past and finally got inspired enough to get down to writing my own. I think not only does this Abby/King pairing have a lot of potential, something that was hinted at throughout the movie, but I also think that the whole 'Abby saves King' idea has a whole bunch of potential as well. I would ever go as far as to say it by itself would make an excellent plot for a movie. I know I would definitely watch a movie about how the Nightstalkers formed, and indeed how Abby saves King, and what happens after that. Again let me stress the potential. Ha!

**Authors Note #2:** Please read and review. I am excited to see what you all think. I am open to comments, advice, and constructive criticism. This is my first Blade Trinity story so I am especially looking for constructive feedback.

**Welcome Back..**

_**Chapter One **_

"_Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. Thus, in the end, life is stronger than death._"

When she looked back on the events of the past of few days, particularly as she watched with a brand of patience that she never realized she actually had, along with an entirely new degree of an 'eat shit and die' expression, as the newest addition to the Honey Comb Hide-out _honest to god_ projectile vomited his first meal as a reborn human being all over the freshly scrubbed kitchen, just how _impossible_ the chances were that the man was even _here_ to redecorate their mess hall with the contents of his half digested breakfast _**at all**__._

There is luck, a fluke, a slim chance, and then there is _Hannibal_ _King._

Over the past few days there had been a lot of 'firsts', not just for him, but for the Nightstalkers as well. There had been the first sip of water, something that had mercifully not resulted in vomiting. It had instead been akin to witnessing a baby's first taste of solid food, with the weakened man's eyes having flown open in surprise as the cool, clear liquid had been pressed to his lips. But delight had quickly followed in surprise's wake, and he had gulped down the water so fast that he had nearly choked himself, making everyone laugh as he looked up, half his face slopping wet and dripping with the contents of the cup as he summoned up the most convincing 'puppy-dog eyed' expression that she had ever seen to try and con more water out of them, despite Sommer's cautionary words.

There were those first few steps off that grimy, sweat soaked gurney that he had insisted on accomplishing himself, something quickly followed by his first face plant when his wobbly legs, as weak as a knobbly new newborn calf's, decided halfway through the first few steps to give out from underneath him completely, sending him sprawling, limbs spread out like a starfish all over the linoleum before anyone could catch him.

There was the first shower, something that was mostly only made memorable due to the fact that he wouldn't shut up about it afterwards until she had actually threatened to throw him off the deck and into the ocean, a threat that was quickly made moot due to the fact that he spent the better part of the rest of the day trying to get Hedges, Dex, and Sommerfield to let him dive off the top of the Honeycomb Hide-out just so he could _try_ it, winking and smirking at her whenever she happened to pass them by.

_Asshole._

There had even been the first hug. Two days after they had brought King to the hideout, with the man now seeming to be well on the road to recovery, Zoey could no longer be held at bay and had snuck into the infirmary when the lot of them had had their backs turned, everyone listening closely as Sommer recounted their newest additions progress rather then to the sound of the infirmary door opening and closing. In a way she really couldn't blame the girl, all she had been hearing for the past few days was about the very sick man who they had saved from the 'bad guys' and made better. However, she had a sneaking suspicion that Zoey knew what was going on, and what King _had_ been, she was a smart girl. _Not to mention a determined one._

When they re-entered the infirmary, they had all stopped dead in their tracks, rendered mute by the power that a mere child can wield. It is not a power not dealt by guns, or bullets, by blows or pain, but by love, and unconditional affection. They found them melded together and in a close, tight embrace, with the girl having quite obviously wrapped her little arms around his neck and burrowed her face into the hollow where his neck and shoulder came together. Soothing the hurt right at its very source, a hurt that the child really couldn't have known had likely been wrought in the _very _same spot that her little pink cheek had rested.

She was forgiving him without words, or need for any explanations, just holding him close in what was in all likelihood the first gentle, loving embrace he had felt since he had been turned. Giving him the most important and essential part of humanity back in one simple embrace. _Love._

She would have given anything to have seen the beginnings of that private moment, and she still wondered even days later, how it had happened, what had been said..Had he hesitated to return her embrace? Had he been shocked? Struck dumb by the gesture as they all were? But regardless, whatever had occurred, Zoey certainly wasn't telling, and despite their rampant curiosity, no one really wanted to pry either..not about this..

And as they backed out silently, giving them both their privacy, she knew she hadn't been the only one to witness the silent, but steady stream of tears that had been trickling down the man's face, falling one by one into Zoe's long brown hair, his arms gentle, but almost desperate around her small little form, holding onto her like he needed her to breathe, like she was precious, and impossible at the same time as his body quaked with silent sobs.

_Forgiveness can be a powerful thing._

And then on the fourth day since he had rejoined the land of living, _quite literally in his case, _there had also been the first sunset. They were still keeping a watchful eye on him at that point, so when he woke up just before dawn, and had hurried from his bed in the infirmary with nothing on but a lent pair of Dex's boxers she had silently followed, keeping to the pre-dawn shadows as she took in his hurried progress.

She had caught up with him as he reached the uppermost deck only a few moments before the sun rose in the horizon, with the man all but bursting onto the spacious roof that they had begun to retrofit into an outdoor training area, his face dead set and determined, set in a thrumming, tense expression, as if he could hardly stand some unknown sort of tension that only he could detect.

To anyone else he would have looked half crazed, leaning up against the railing, half out of breath from the abrupt jog, and standing up on the top deck in nothing but a pair of ill fitting blue and black plaid boxer shorts, his hair sleep mussed and standing out in sleep-spiked tufts all over his dark, sandy haired head, his eyes fixed on the horizon as if his very life depended on it, anticipation twitching his lips into a nervous, near frown.

And during that long..seemingly age long moment, as she watched the dawning light move steadily up his features, banishing the shadows, past hurts and pains, the tension and the long years from his face, seeming to cleanse him down to his very soul as his face took on such a pure, and heart breakingly grateful look that it smoothed across him in a wave of orange tinted light, that she resolved on the spot, that she would _never_ take another sunrise for granted ever again.

_She knew he certainly wouldn't._

Slowly but surely this half starved, beaten up, smart mouthed little shit was somehow worming his way into everyone's hearts. _Even hers._ Something that was no small feat for the lot of them, because, as everyone knew, especially in this kind of work, you always kept your heart close and your emotions in check. You tried not to love too loud, or laugh and like too much, because everyone knew, even the next day, that that one person you had just loved, just laughed with and liked, could be..and most likely would be gone forever. Everyone knew you didn't get too attached, you didn't get to know someone too much, because in the end, it was easier on you if you didn't have the memories to haunt you afterwards

But this time..this time it was different, and not just for her either...She could see it on everyone's faces, once you got past the gruff masks and the quiet, measured trepidation, the fact was that in only a matter of days, this man..this Hannibal King, for better or for worse, had effectively laid waste to all their efforts..all their masks and false fronts, battering down the walls around their hearts and their facades of emotionlessness and apathy with nothing but a genuine smile, boundless enthusiasm, ever ready humour, and what she was quickly coming to recognize as a heart of gold.

Because for the first time that she could remember, there was laughter echoing throughout the halls of the Honeycomb hideout. For the first time there were running footsteps and booming voices streaming through the nooks and corners of their home that had nothing to do with violence, pain or the fear of an attack. For the first time in a long time, Zoey was running around wild, shrieking with glee, a smile beaming from her face fit to split her little face in two, acting for once like the child she was instead of a serious, and growingly soft spoken little creature that she had become. King was always only steps in her wake, always eager for a game of hide and seek or tag, with the pair of them often to be found in each others company from then on, with Zoey delighting in the attention, and the piggy back rides that so often seemed to result.

For the first time in a long time, she heard more then a sentence at a time from Hedges, with the rather shy man seeming to strangely thrive off the mere presence of the man, with the gentle teasing and the constant company seeming to accomplish what she had been attempting to do for over a year. For the first time in a long time, Dex had a serious contender for a few quick matches of basketball, with both men quickly deciding to do series of what they referred to as 'very manly' renovations on the rather dilapidated looking hoop, planning to paint in an actual court, and everything on the next trip into town. For the first time in a long time, Sommerfield had a shadow that was not Zoey, but rather King himself as he started to express a seemingly genuine and apparently fathomless interest in her current research projects, the two seeming to bond instantly despite all circumstances, spending long hours discussing things she certainly had no patience for.

And for the first time in a long time, if she really let herself think about it... likely since she had first cajoled her father into getting her into the 'family business', somehow this perpetually happy, little twerp of a man had given her back something infinitely precious, something that until he had arrived in their lives, she hadn't really even noticed was missing... He had given her back _hope._ Hope in the human race.

Hannibal King had effectively come back from the dead, and had brought _life_ back into the meaning of _living_. Not just for _himself_, but for _all _of them.

_**- "Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." - Norman Cousins**_

_**A/N: Let me know if you would like to see the second part. I am not sure if there is going to be any demand for this story since it has been years since the movie came out, so in the interests of saving time, due to the myriad of projects I already have on the go, let me know if you want to see more!**_


End file.
